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THINK BIG!

Monday morning, I drank my first cup of coffee of the day and alternated between checking blog stats and answering comments. Then a very loud voice shouted in my head.

“THINK BIG!”

I stopped what I was doing. Did you say Think big?

“YOU’RE THINKING TOO SMALL,” the voice bellowed again.

I sat up and pondered this scream from my sub-conscious self.

It usually criticized and said cruel things like, “Are you ever going to stop surfing the Internet and get something done today?” Or “You are such a gimp. You wouldn’t have broken your wrist if you had gotten into shape after knee surgery last year.” Or, “You have no life. Make a plan.”

I immediately thought of how my voice was right. I was thinking too small. As part of my resolutions, I had committed to blogging more frequently and have been working to get into a daily routine to finish old and new projects.

IDEAL SCHEDULE:

Catch up on blogging and social media.

Write a new blog post.

Hit the exercise bike.

Write a few chapters in my new book

Work on querying first book series.

Like I said, I had been working on it, but hadn’t quite mastered the routine.

ME: Too big and I think you were talking about something more career-related, right?

THOUGHTS: Sure. How about contests?

ME: Cool. I won one for a screenplay this year, I could enter a few more.

THOUGHTS: You don’t have to brag to me. I’m you.

ME: What else you got?

THOUGHTS: Write an article for a major magazine.

ME: Huh. That’s good. Keep thinking.

THOUGHTS: Before querying that debut novel series again, make it BIGGER.

ME: How? I’ve already rewritten it 876 times.

THOUGHTS: You already know, Grasshopper, you just need to do the work.

ME: I am not going to talk to myself if I’m referred to as “Grasshopper.”

THOUGHTS: Deal, now put on your thinking cap.

ME: Okay. I will.

ME: What else you got?

ME: …….Thoughts! Wake up!

THOUGHTS: Finished already?

ME: No, but I thought I’d hit you up while you’re thinking.

THOUGHTS: *sigh* How about submitting your blog posts to bigger sites or to the newspaper again?

ME: I could do that.

THOUGHTS: Or start your own BIG site.

ME: Pshhh. There’s no way. Nope. Not going to happen.

THOUGHTS: *yawns* How about stand-up or inspirational speaking? *yawns again*

ME: That could happen. I impersonated Michael Jackson without knowing the words to the song. Impersonating an inspirational speaker would be cake in comparison. I do a form of stand-up all the time with strangers. As you know, I have no shame.

THOUGHTS: ………….

ME: Those are great ideas, thank you. But next time, shout something really enlightening, like the winning lottery numbers, or who will be my agent, so I can query that person next and skip the rest. Deal?

THOUGHTS: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………….

ME: Thoughts?

ME: Hey! WAKE UP!

ME: ………Dang. I guess I could check out what’s trending on Twitter.

This actually happened to me. Do you ever have AHA moments like this? What does your inner voice say?

I thought bigger.. agents don’t like smaller writers so I write my ass off very day getting my voice out in the community.. I thought bigger– no world tour for me but I attend every town social event so people can put a face to the non stop blogging I do about my community. I thought bigger– but no book tours for me so I speak at ladies local events LOL(but they buy my books)… I thought bigger and no major book stores for me, but I have the best two ladies in the world and their store selling my books and all the local museums carrying one. I thought bigger about sending my stuff to magazines– but I write for a local paper instead. ..The point is we can think bigger and most of it won’t work out.. but if we stay true to ourselves and we love what we do, then haven’t we won the game? Maybe not on an international scale as we hope, but we have in our hearts and souls. I will take a plate of that please..

Oh wow! That’s what it’s all about! Just think of how far you’ve come since we met. Had you thought blog to books back then? I don’t think so. You’ve come a long way, baby. You’re my hero! And we never know what’s up ahead, that could be our next Hallelujah moment!
Love you too!

Ha! We are indeed at war with our thoughts, not to mention our habits, aren’t we? I like the difference between the ideal schedule and what actually transpired — a familiar scenario for many of us, I think. Though you still managed to get a lot done, Susie. Hope you have a good weekend!

Thanks, Paul!
We are and yet when they have a good idea, I say, “Bring them on, thoughts!”
I looked back on that day and it wasn’t too bad. I think it’s more about seeking high goals at the summit if only to land mid-peak. That’s better than the view from the foothills. Ha!
Have a great weekend too!

Ha! It’s easy to get sucked into the blogging vortex. Humor aside, I have taken the challenge. I’m thinking big and taking steps toward me my goals with a different oerspective. Now if I could just stop talking to myself…..

It’s all challenging! Even blogging is up there on the list. Every blogger wonders how they can find more readers. I’ll never understand why posts like this one get such low views and others blow up. *scratches head* I just keep on writing!
Thanks for stopping by, X!

Yes I am familiar with those cycles. I am the Queen of putting things off. Don’t be so hard on yourself though, if you do a bit and then a bit more and so on, you’ll find your groove and take off like a jet. What’s that quote? It doesn’t matter how slow you move, just as long as you move. Besides us creative types need to be in the mood. ❤
Diana

I can start a year, month, week or day with very big ideas, but I lose the momentum easily and change the big idea into smaller bites/bytes. I think your goals are superb, and maybe just deciding that baby steps will eventually reach each goal fits well with being kind to yourself. If we keep moving and don’t come to a complete stall, then that’s success. That’s what I tell myself anyway. 🙂

That is so excellent, Debra! That’s what I am going to do. I’m also going to put this photo on a board in my “office” and on my daytimer to remind me to manifest these inspirational ideas and never forget.

I often have inspirational chats with myself. I learned later in life that smaller goals will win the race, so that’s what I’ve been doing more of. There are still the big, zany goals, but I finally realized that I need small goals to get there. Good luck with your new plan!

Thanks Kate! I used to have more of them when I first started blogging and writing, and then I got bogged down. I’m glad to hear you’re baby-stepping your way forward!
It was one helluva week. One new idea snowballed into another. Now if those thoughts would just keep rolling….

I know that voice!!! Ha!
I’ve found it so difficult finding time for blogging when working on other projects. I feel like I procrastinated teeing up a post for today and yet I put in lots of hours on my book this weekend. It’s hard to keep that voice happy. 🙂

You are a lucky man, Cayman! Mine can keep me up at night too. Last night it was the hard mattress that kept me awake. Remodeling has it’s sacrifices. The snow up here is amazing! Three more weeks until I can go out and play…

Susie, I’ve been missing some inner thoughts of late. I now know where they went and who the culprit is. I couldn’t get any sleep before, all that talking going on up in the attic. Sounds like yours is the one a buzz with conversation now. Enjoy my thoughts. 😀

Yep, I have conversations like that, but what I find it really hard to do is decide on one or two things to focus on, I want to do it all, so I dabble a little bit in it all and never do any of it properly! It also doesn’t help that I don’t have a long attention sp…

Hahaha! I have the same, hey! Look! A sparkly thing! Last week I really went for it and plan to query at the end of the week. I WILL find an agent or that little voice will SCREAM! Good luck to you too!

It happened and the real battle is how am I going to deal with it. Here in my country letting your voice heard sometimes measured with connection and status in society, so no matter your idea was awesome you need to strive very badly to make things possible. But even if, I keep on trying and never gets tired of trying 🙂

I don’t think my Big Thoughts are nearly as witty as yours. More loopy. But the most recent idea was a doozy.

“Stop thinking you can’t set financial goals for what you can earn writing. You’re using that as an excuse not to step too far outside your comfort zone in the wading pool. You CAN set a goal based upon how much each submission COULD earn.”

That happened while I had my hands in the dishwater. No lie.

So, now I have a goal based on the potential earning, and I’m going to beat that goal! =D

That is so cool! Woohoo! The trick is to remember what they say. Oftentimes it’s spot on. I should write down what it says so I don’t ignore it. Today it said, “Resubmit to agents who were interested in your book. After all the rewrites, they will connect with it.” Okay. Okay. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!